Life Before The Strike #3

Today I woke up at the crack of dawn...well, it was around 8am. I was on a mission today. I had recently read about a top baseball card shop in Seattle, and I was determined to make it there for the unlocking of the door at 11am to begin scouring the stacks.

If you're not familiar with the Seattle/Puget Sound area, here's a quick summary: lots of water. I live on the west side of Puget Sound, Seattle lies on the east side of the sound. That means a 1-hour ferry ride to review the list of cards I'm looking for today, and a chance to put the iPod on shuffle and enjoy the tunes. Not only that, a great opportunity for "people watching". I'm a fan. I enjoy human behavior, and the special dynamic of diverse social groups in a small setting. Today in Seattle, by the way, was the 2008 Hemp Fest...needless to say, the crowd on the ferry this morning was very interesting.

3 hours and 25 minutes after leaving my house, I finally arrived at the card shop. My adventure began. 4 hours, and countless boxes and stacks and rows of cards later, I departed the shop, jumped on the bus, and headed back to the ferry terminal. I grabbed a beer while waiting for the ferry, it was 92 degrees in Seattle today and I was damn thirsty.

I was able to cross off a good number of cards on my list, as well as picking up some rather odd finds and sentimental additions to my collection. Here's a smattering of the day's plunder.


1961 Post #57 Harvey Kuenn
This is a special card for two reasons. First and foremost, Harvey Kuenn was the manager of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, the first and only playoff team in franchise history. "Harvey's Wallbangers" as they were known lost the World Series in 7 games to St. Louis that year. This card shows Kuenn in 1960, the only year he played for the Cleveland Indians (he was traded to the Giants during that season).


1982 Donruss #531 San Diego Chicken
Yesteryear mascot of the Padres, the San Diego Chicken was beloved by fans in Southern California for years. The back of the card is the best, listing career stats for the Chicken:
-Career Batting Average: .000 ('goose eggs')
-Signed in 1974 for an undisclosed amount of chickenfeed
-has been 'farmed' out on several occasions
-better than all in baseball today in hitting fowl balls, scratch hits, and calling bawks
-1982 season goal of being named M.V.P. (Most Valuable Poultry)
Thanks, Donruss.1991 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #91 Don Majikowski
The "Majik" Man was a huge hit in the state of Wisconsin during the first part of the 1990's. He showed poise, ability, and sex appeal. I had a poster of Don growing up, he was seated on a motorcycle (a Milwaukee-made Harley Davidson) on a dark, street corner wearing a leather jacket and a face decorated with his signature eye black. He was injured during the 1992 season, and we all know the rest...backup QB Brett Favre came in, and took the reigns for the next 16 years.

1990 Topps #214 Terry Francona
Now most widely known as the manager to break the "Curse of the Bambino" and lead the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years, few remember him as a player...and far fewer remember him as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. In fact, he only played in 3 games for the Brewers that season.
1977 Topps #439 Gorman Thomas
"Stormin' Gorman" was a member of Harvey's Wallbangers, and key player in the lore I was raised on as a kid. He ended up stiking out to Bruce Sutter for the final out of the World Series in '82. Here's an earlier card showing him without his wonderful face fur he sported for the rest of his career.
This card also features some great illustration that has been lost in recent years with regard to baseball cards. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

Olympic Girl of the Day

Today's olympian is 20-year old Alicia Sacramone.
She is a member of the United States' women's gymnastics team. They won the silver medal in these games.

Even though Miss Sacramone, native of Worcester (spoken "Wuhstah") Mass., is only 20 years old, she was the anchor of the squad.


Okay...let's just call a spade a spade...she's freakin' hot, people. "Good on 'ya", Alicia...now finish up your college education at Brown University (an Ivy League school, folks) and make your country proud.

Life Before The Strike #2

The card shop I went to yesterday had a $10/min. for all debit/credit card transactions. Alas...the 50+ Brewers cards that I had assembled after 2 1/2 hours of digging only came to $6.00...so I said, "Okay, let me get a 550ct box...I need another one of those." My total was now a whopping $7 ... and I was forced to buy a pack of cards. I settled on the 2008 Topps Chrome hobby pack.
Yes, it WAS the least expensive pack there. Well, I shouldn't say that. It was the pack priced such that I wouldn't exceed my MAXIMUM purchase price of $10. After all, baseball card collecting is a guilty pleasure that I can't justify spending too much money on while gasoline is still $4.00 a gallon.

I noticed AFTER I got home that the pack said clearly on the front, in bold...


4 Cards??? Is that it??? I paid $4 for this pack of 4 cards. There had better be some good stuff inside.

Card #1: #19 Jose Reyes
In the 4 packs of cards I've purchased this summer, I now have the regular 2008 Topps and Topps Chrome of this same card...

Card #2: #90 David Ortiz
Same story...I now have 2 of these, the regular and the chrome. Funny, in this card he can't speak English either.
Card #3: #TCH12 Hunter Pence Trading Card History
Neat little insert, looks like a metal plate used in early photography. Too bad it's not worth crap and the Astros belong in the NL West.
Card #4: #239 Randy Wells AUTO RC
Sweet! A Topps certified autographed card! This has to be worth bank! However...a quick trip to the Blue Jays website showed me that he was designated for assignment earlier this season after pitching just 1 inning in the Bigs. Being a Rule 5 player, he was waived and went back to the AAA Iowa Cubs. He's 8-4 there, with a 3.99 ERA. This card is selling for $5.99 on ebay right now...I'll sell it for $4, the cost of this crappy pack of cards!
The fine folks at Topps Trading Card Co. were kind enough to throw in a freebie, a checklist! Lucky guy that I am, I received 5 cards for the price of 4. Score!


Editor's Note: In response to this post, a kind soul from Houston TX has agreed to trade for the Hunter Pence card...let's see what this trade produces...perhaps a 2008 Topps Chrome Yovanni Gallardo AUTO?

Two rednecks meet on a country road...

...in the middle of a hot summer day. One guy is carrying a huge bag with the word "Chikuns" on the side in big, black letters.

"Chickens, huh?" says the second man, feeling the rumbling in his stomach. "Hey, sposin' I guess how many chickens you got in that there bag, you give me one?"

"Hell" said the first man. "You guess right, and I'll give you both of em."

Now, I love the South. I lived in South Carolina for 4 years...but there's something to be said for being educated north of the Mason-Dixon line. Take geography, for example...and this recent conflict over in eastern Europe between Georgia and Russia. It's understandable for a person of average, high school level intelligience to not know where this region of the world is on a map. In middle school we used to have to fully label a blank map of europe/asia/central america, for example. This was in social studies. Of course, it was easier in elementary school because you could just write "U.S.S.R." on almost 1/2 of the eastern hemisphere and still recieve a passing grade.

These days it's a little different, though. Many more areas that were part of the former Soviet Union are their own countries, now...which apparently confused one person south of the Mason-Dixon line.

This woman was obviously referring to the news she'd recieved on her television about the fighting over in Eastern Europe. Didn't she see the map they put up on the screen accompanying the story? It probably looked something like this...

Wait a second...where is Florida? And where is this Black Sea on the map, I thought we were on the Atlantic Ocean? This map clashed greatly with the map she had in her head, the one she remembered from high school...

So she figured the news lady was probably wrong, and the Russians were in her backyard. So, she decided to go to the Yahoo! wizards for her answer.

Life Before "The Strike" #1

And thus begins the resurgence of my childhood hobby - baseball card collecting. I chose the title for this thread, 'Life Before "The Strike"' because the Major League Baseball players' strike of 1994 ended my years of baseball card collecting. My brother and I just stopped buying cards after that. When the 1995 MLB season began, I was too busy listening to the Smashing Pumpkins and discovering that girls bodies were...changing...to put any effort into card collecting. At that point, all the major card companies had converted to a "glossy" format, thus driving up the price of cards. What used to cost 50 cents for 20 cards, now cost $2.50 for half as many cards. For an unemployed 13-year old, this was no longer an affordable hobby.

13 years later...2008. Baseball is still my favorite sport, and I have been blessed with a job that affords me the opportunity to religiously watch and follow baseball once again. And so, my love of cards is re-awakened. It also helps that the Brewers are actually a good baseball team again!

A fellow Brewers fan and I share something in common - our favorite baseball player of all time is Robin Yount. We recently agreed to trade some cards, 2 of mine for 10 of his - I scratched his back, and likewise he scratched mine. At any rate, here are the cards I received from Thorzul today.

1994 Pacific Silver Prisms Circular #1
This card is really neat - not only is holographic (which means 3 dimensions of fun) but the back is in both English AND Spanish...which helps. I now know that the Spanish word for "Homeruns" is "Cuadrangulares". Badass.

2000 Upper Deck why 3k? #59
Robin Yount retired with a career batting avg of .285 - and averaged 1.1 hits/game. Math says that if you can stay healthey, that average will get you to 3,000 hits.
2001 Fleer Greats of the Game #83
Perhaps one day MLB will bring back the pullover game jersey. At least Kansas City is doing their part by bringing back powder blues.2001 Topps American Pie #71
I think the bat he's holding in this photo weighs 12 oz., it's tiny.
2002 Donruss Team Heroes #286
I actually found this card today at a card/coin/uniform/clock shop. Nice photo of him during his "mullet days".
2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber #78
There's nothing better than Mizuno's and stirrups...call me old-fashioned, but we need to bring stirrups back.The only thing on this card better than the stirrups is the photo of Robin on the back, circa '76...


2005 Donruss Diamond Kings HOF Heroes #HH-61
My favorite card in the lot. The border around the card is raised, and the painting of Robin has him sporting his legendary handlebar mustache.
2005 Upper Deck All Star Classics #96
Great photo of Robin sporting the blue and white batting helmet that the Crew abandoned in favor of the solid blue helmet after the '86 season.
2005 Upper Deck Legendary Cuts #69
Even though I already had this card, I wanted to post it because it's very well done. I like the scrollwork, looks old school. It also has Robin's middle initial, "R". First time I'd ever seen that on a baseball card.
1986 Dorman's Cheese
Just like Kraft and Post used to offer baseball fans inserts and "cutouts" from boxes, the smart folks at Dorman's Cheese figured out that baseball and cheese are a great couple. Not liscensed by MLB, they of course had to remove the logos from the hats. This always confused me as a kid.


My thanks again to Thorzul for these awesome cards.

Olympic Girl of the Day

Today's featured Olympian is 22-year old Gabriella Fagundez.


Fagundez is a member of the Swedish women's swimming team. She qualified for the Olympics for the 800m Free, 400m Free, and 4x200m Free. Her team finished 8th today in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Better luck at the 2012 games in London, Gabriella!

Olympic Girl of the Day

I'm giving myself permission to bend the rules for the "Olympic Girl of the Day" series of posts. The terms of the deal were that it'd be about foreign athletes. Well, today's winner is playing on a foreign team for the olympics. Does that count?

And so I give you Becky Hammon.
Becky is a native of South Dakota. She is playing on the Russian women's olympic basketball team. How did this happen? Well, she wasn't in the original 21-player pool last March for Team USA, so she reached out to Russia, and the coach she played for during winter league in Russia, CSKA.


In the WNBA, Becky was recently traded from New York to San Antonio.

I hope you don't mind that I bent the rules, just this once.